Mechanism for supporting an apron draft mechanism of a spinning machine

ABSTRACT

An improved supporting mechanism for supporting a weighting-arm type apron draft mechanism of a spinning frame. The apron draft mechanism is supported by a guide arm which is supported by a forwardly sloped bottom plate of a support secured to a common carrier arm in a three-dimensionally turnable condition together with a slidable condition toward a longitudinal direction of the guide arm.

United States Patent [151 3,665,559 51 May 30, 1972 [54] MECHANISM FOR SUPPORTING AN APRON DRAFT MECHANISM OF A SPINNING MACHINE [72] Inventor: Nobugi Ooki, Fujisawa-shi, Japan [73] Assignee: Nippon Seiko Kabushlki Kaisha, Tokyo,

Japan [22] Filed: Jan. 15, 1970 [21] App1. No.2 3,081

' 52 us. Cl ..19/254, 19/281 ..D0lh 5/88 ....19/244, 257, 281, 282, 295

[51] Int. Cl. [58] Field of Search...

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Kramer, German Application, 1,126,287 Printed 3/22/62 Primary Examiner-Dorsey Newton Attorney-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato [5 7] ABSTRACT An improved supporting mechanism for supporting a weighting-arm type apron draft mechanism of a spinning frame. The apron'draft mechanism is supported by a guide arm which is supported by a forwardly sloped bottom plate of a support secured to a common carrier arm in a three-dimensionally tumable condition together with a slidable condition toward a longitudinal direction of the guide arm.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,662,249 12/1953 Neu .19/253 3,050,789 8/1962 Rogner ..19/252 OH I PATENTEDMAY 30 I972 SHEET 10? 3 prises a top cradle, a top tensor mounted upon the top cradle,

a bottom tensor bar facing the top tensor, a bottom roller and atop roller urged toward the bottom roller, an endless apron band encircling the top roller and the top tensor, and another endless apron band encircling or extending around the bottom roller and the bottom tensor bar. In order to fix a tensor gauge between the top tensorand the bottom tensor barin such draft mechanisms, a common arbor of the top rollers is urged toward the cooperating bottom rollers and the top tensor of the top cradle is urged toward the bottom tensor bar by utilizing a spring force generated by spring means mounted on the top cradle. Therefore, it is difficult to precisely fix the tensor gauge ina uniform. condition. Therefore the principle object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawback, in other words, to provide an improved supporting mechanism of a pair of top of top rollers and cradles thereof with a definite tensor gauge in a precise and stable condition.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drafting mechanism, partly in fragmentary elevational sections, according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a side view of the drafting mechanism shown in FlG.'l,

FIG. 3 is a detailed side view of a supporting mechanism in enlarged scale,shown in FIG. 2, the mechanism being set for operation, 1 I

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a top cradle assembly of the drafting mechanism shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 is a side view of a modified supporting mechanism provided with a similar function as the mechanism shown in FIG. 3,

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a bottom plate of a support shown in FIG. 3,

FIG. 6B is a sectional view of the bottom plate, taken along lineVl-VI, in FIG. 4A.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 a typical embodiment of the supporting mechanism of the invention comprises a spring loading system applied to a pair of top rollers 1 which is urged against the cooperating bottom rollers 2 with constant pressure, a support 3 adjustably secured to a common carrier arm 4 by a fastening bolt 5, A guide arm 6 for supporting the top rollers 1 together with a combined top cradle assembly 7 is provided with a spherical upward recess 6a formed in a rear end portion thereof comprising a bearing surface and with an abutment 6b formed at an intermediate portion thereof, while a bottom plate 3a of the support 3 is provided with a slender longitudinal groove 3b extending along the common carrier arm 4. The bottom plate 3a slopes forward. The groove 3b has a spherical shape of a lateral cross-section as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. A ball or spherical member 8 is contained within the space defined by the recess 6a and the groove 3b. The support 3 is further provided with a downward projection 3d mounted on a top plate 3c thereof. Biasing means comprising a helical spring 9 is positioned within the space defined by the abutment 6b and the downward projection 3d in such a way that a bottom end of the helical spring 9 is received by the abutment 6b while a top end of the spring 9 is connected to the projection 3d.

The front end portion of the guide arm 6 has lateral flanges 60 which are recessed to provide a bearing surface for a commonarbor la of the top rollers 1, and the combined top cradle assembly comprises two top cradle portions 7 which are supported by the arbor lain the same manner as in the conventional draft mechanisms so that the top cradle assembly 7 is capable of turning about the arbor la of the top roller 1.

In this embodiment, the combined top cradle assembly 7 has a similar construction andfunction as the top cradle mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,871. However, for

a better understanding, the basic construction of the top cradle assembly 7 is hereinafter illustrated.

Referring to FIG. 4, a cradle plate 73 is disposed upstream of the front rollers in a manner similar to that of the conventional mechanism. The cradle plate 7g is provided with a pair of rearwardly protruding arbor holders 7a and a pair of upwardly protruding top apron guides 7J1 In the space existing between the arbor holder 7a and the top apron guides 7f, a U- shaped tensor holder 16 is fixed upon the cradle plate 7g with its open-end facing forwardly and a movable top tensor 11 is slidably inserted into a gap betweenthe cradle plate 7g and the tensor holder 16 with-its upper surface facing the lower surface of the cradle plate 7g. I

The lower portion of the tensor holder 16 is provided with a downward projection 16a formed on a side brim thereof. This projection 16a effectively maintains the top tensor mechanism at a suitable distance from the bottom tensor mechanism by its contact with the bottom tensor bar 10. The lower surface of the cradle plate 7g is provided with a pair of protuberances 19, 20 engageable with long apertures in the movable tensor. A spring 18 is provided within a compartmentfonned by an inside wall of the tensor holder 16 and a portion of the movable tensor 11 for the purpose of urging the movable tensor 11 forwardly. Consequently, the movable tensor 1 l is urged forwardly by,the spring 18, as already explained, and the top apron 12 is placed under a constant and uniformed tensioned condition.

The helical spring 9 is positioned in the above-mentioned space in a compressed condition and the ball 8 is capable of sliding or rolling in the slender longitudinal groove 3b formed in the inclined bottom plate 311 of the support 3, the top rollers l are urged toward the cooperating bottom roller 2 while the top end 7a of each 'top cradle portion 7 is urged toward a bottom tensor bar 10. The guide arm 6 is thus mounted for angular movement in more than one plane or three-dimensional pivotal movement as well as translational movement along the groove 3b.

In other words, the resilient force of the helical spring 9 generates two component forces I and F5, and the force F urges the arbor la of the top rollers 1 toward the axis of the cooperating bottom roller 2 and the force F urges the arbor la toward the front end of the cradle portion 7. As shown in the drawing, a hook 7b projects downwardly from each of the protruding arbor holders 7a of the top cradle assembly 7 so that the hooks 7b contact a rear side of a bottom tensor bar 10. Consequently, the top cradle assembly 7 tends to turn our pivot counterclockwise about the axis of the arbor la of the top rollers 1 while each projection 16a of the cradle 7 directly contacts the bottom tensor bar 10 under an optimum pressure for fixing the tensor gauge in a stable condition. A top tensor 11 is supported by the top cradle portion 7 so that a tensor gauge defined by the position of the top tensor 1 l and bottom tensor bar 10 is precisely fixed in a stable condition. Further the parallelism of the top roller 1 to the cooperating bottom roller 2 is easily attained by the above-mentioned contact of the hooks 7b of the cradle 7 with the bottom tensor bar 10.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a spring means for urging the top tensor 1 1 forward is preferably applied for con tinuously imparting a tension to a top apron 12 encircling the top tensor 11 and the top roller 1 so that troubles caused by longitudinal deformation of the apron etc., can be prevented.

A supporting mechanism shown in FIG. 3 is a modified embodiment wherein only a ball supporting means is different from the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this embodiment, the guide arm 6 is provided with a slender longitudinal groove 6d instead of the spherically shaped recess 6a (FIG. 2), while the bottom plate 3a is provided with a spherically shaped recess 3e instead of the slender longitudinal groove 3b. However both embodiments have the same functional feature.

What is claimed is:

1. In a weighting-arm type draft mechanism having a common carrier arm, a guide arm connected to said common carrier arm for supporting a pair of apron drafting mechanisms each comprising a top cradle and a top tensor supported by said top cradle and a bottom tensor bar facing said top tensor and wherein said top cradles are rigidly connected together as a combined top cradle assembly, an improved support mechanism for supporting a pair of top rollers and said top cardles comprising: a support member having a forwardly sloped bottom plate and a top plate rigidly supported by said common carrier arm, said top plate having a downward projection, means for supporting said guide arm upon said forwardly sloped bottom plate of said support in a three-dimensionally pivotal condition together with a slidable condition along a longitudinal direction of said guide arm, a pair of flanged recess portions formed at a forward end portion of said guide arm comprising bearing surfaces receiving thereagainst a common arbor of said top rollers, an abutment projecting upwardly from an intermediate portion of said guide arm, and a helical spring positioned between said abutment and said downward projection in a compressed condition effective to urge said top rollers toward said cooperating bottom rollers via aprons of said apron draft mechanism whereby said combined top cradle assembly is urged toward said bottom tensor bars.

2. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said combined top cradle assembly is provided with spring means for resiliently urging each of said top tensors to a forward end of its respective top cradle.

3. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said combined top cradle assembly is provided with a pair of rearwardly protruding top arbor holders, each of said arbor holders is provided with a hook projecting therefrom in close contact with a rear surface portion of said bottom tensor bar whereby parallelism of each of said paired top rollers to a cooperating bottom roller is continuously maintained.

4. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said combined top cradle assembly is provided with a pair of rearwardly protruding top arbor holders, each of said arbor holders is provided with a hook projecting therefrom in close contact with a rear surface portion of said bottom tensor bar, and said combined top cradle assembly is further provided with a pair of downwardly extending projections at symmetrical adjacent portions to said bottom tensor bars in direct engagement with a top surface of said bottom tensor bars, whereby a tensor gauge defined by said top tensor and bottom tensor bars is precisely set in a predetermined condition.

5. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, including means defining a slender longitudinal groove in said forwardly sloped bottom plate, means defining a spherical recess in a rear end portion of said guide arm, a ball movably disposed between said slender longitudinal groove and spherical recess, and wherein said slender longitudinal groove extends along said common carrier arm and has a laterally arched cross section.

6. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, including means defining a slender longitudinal groove in a rear end portion of said guide arm, means defining a spherical recess in said forwardly sloped bottom plate, a ball movably disposed between said slender longitudinal groove and spherical recess, and wherein said slender longitudinal groove extends along said guide arm and has a laterally arched cross section.

7. In a drafting mechanism provided with a pair of apron draft mechanisms each having a top roller connected to a common arbor and rotatable about a longitudinal axis, a top tensor member, a top apron extending around said top roller and top tensor member, a bottom roller rotatable about a longitudinal axis, a bottom tensor member and a bottom apron extending around said bottom roller and bottom tensor member; an improved support device for supporting said top rollers comprising: a common cradle member disposed on the underside of said top rollers and having connected thereto said top tensor members and having a pair of arcuate bearing surfaces rotatably supporting therein said common arbor of said top rollers; a guide arm disposed on the upper side of said top rollers and having an arcuate bearing surface at one end thereof rotatably receiving therein said common arbor; mounting means mounting said guide arm for both angular movement in more than one plane and translational movement in a direction parallel to said longitudinal axis of said bottom rollers; and biasing means cooperative with said mounting means for continuously biasing said guide arm downwardly into contact with said top rollers to effect urging together both pairs of said top and bottom rollers and direct engagement of said common cradle with said bottom tensor members to define a preselected tensor gauge between said top and bottom tensor members.

8. A drafting mechanism according to claim 7; wherein said mounting means comprises a fixed downwardly inclined plate member having means therein defining a longitudinal groove extending parallel to said longitudinal axis of said bottom roller, means defining a spherical groove within the other end of said guide arm, and a spherical member movably disposed between said longitudinal spherical grooves, whereby said guide arm may undergo angular movement in more than one plane by pivoting about said spherical member and translational movement by moving with said spherical member along said longitudinal groove.

9. A drafting mechanism according to claim 7; wherein said mounting means comprises a fixed downwardly inclined plate member having means therein defining a spherical groove, means defining a longitudinal groove extending parallel to said longitudinal axis of said bottom roller within the other end of said guide arm, and a spherical member movably disposed between said spherical and longitudinal grooves, whereby said guide arm may undergo angular movement in more than one plane by pivoting about said spherical member and translational movement by moving with said spherical member along said longitudinal groove. 

1. In a weighting-arm type draft mechanism having a common carrier arm, a guide arm connected to said common carrier arm for supporting a pair of apron drafting mechanisms each comprising a top cradle and a top tensor supported by said top cradle and a bottom tensor bar facing said top tensor and wherein said top cradles are rigidly connected together as a combined top cradle assembly, an improved support mechanism for supporting a pair of top rollers and said top cardles comprising: a support member having a forwardly sloped bottom plate and a top plate rigidly supported by said common carrier arm, said top plate having a downward projection, means for supporting said guide arm upon said forwardly sloped bottom plate of said support in a threedimensionally pivotal condition together with a slidable condition along a longitudinal direction of said guide arm, a pair of flanged recess portions formed at a forward end portion of said guide arm comprising bearing surfaces receiving thereagainst a common arbor of said top rollers, an abutment projecting upwardly from an intermediate portion of said guide arm, and a helical spring positioned between said abutment and said downward projection in a compressed condition effective to urge said top rollers toward said cooperating bottom rollers via aprons of said apron draft mechanism whereby said combined top cradle assembly is urged toward said bottom tensor bars.
 2. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said combined top cradle assembly is provided with spring means for resiliently urging each of said top tensors to a forward end of its respective top cradle.
 3. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said combined top cradle assembly is provided with a pair of rearwardly protruding top arbor holders, each of said arbor holders is provided with a hook projecting therefrom in close contact with a rear surface portion of said bottom tensor bar whereby parallelism of each of said paired top rollers to a cooperating bottom roller is continuously maintained.
 4. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said combined top cradle assembly is provided with a pair of rearwardly protruding top arbor holders, each of said arbor holders is provided with a hook projecting therefrom in close contact with a rear surface portion of said bottom tensor bar, and said combined top cradle assembly is further provided with a pair of downwardly extending projections at symmetrical adjacent portions to said bottom tensor bars in direct engagement with a top surface of said bottom tensor bars, whereby a tensor gauge defined by said top tensor and bottom tensor bars is precisely set in a predetermined condition.
 5. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, including means defining a slender longitudinal groove in said forwardly sloped bottom plate, means defining a spherical recess in a rear end portion of said guide arm, a ball movably disposed between said slender longitudinal groove and spherical recess, and wherein said slender longitudinal groove extends along said common carrier arm and has a laterally arched cross section.
 6. An improved support mechanism according to claim 1, including means defining a slender longitudinal groove in a rear end portion of said guide arm, means defining a spherical recess in said forwardly sloped bottom plate, a ball movably disposed between said slender longitudinal groove and spherical recess, and wherein said slender longitudinal groove extends along said guide arm and has a laterally arched cross section.
 7. In a drafting mechanism provided with a pair of apron draft mechanisms each having a top roller connected to a common arbor and rotatable about a longitudinal axis, a top tensor member, a top apron extending around said top roller and top tensor member, a bottom roller rotatable about a longitudinal axis, a bottom tensor member and a bottom apron extending around said bottom roller and bottom tensor member; an improved support device for supporting said top rollers comprising: a common cradle member disposed on the underside of said top rollers and having connected thereto said top tensor members and having a pair of arcuate bearing surfaces rotatably supporting therein said common arbor of said top rollers; a guide arm disposed on the upper side of said top rollers and having an arcuate bearing surface at one end thereof rotatably receiving therein said common arbor; mounting means mounting said guide arm for both angular movement in more than one plane and translational movement in a direction parallel to said longitudinal axis of said bottom rollers; and biasing means cooperative with said mounting means for continuously biasing said guide arm downwardly into contact with said top rollers to effect urging together both pairs of said top and bottom rollers and direct engagement of said common cradle with said bottom tensor members to define a preselected tensor gauge between said top and bottom tensor members.
 8. A drafting mechanism according to claim 7; wherein said mounting means comprises a fixed downwardly inclined plate member having means therein defining a longitudinal groove extending parallel to said longitudinal axis of said bottom roller, means defining a spherical groove within the other end of said guide arm, and a spherical member movably disposed between said longitudinal spherical grooves, whereby said guide arm may undergo angular movement in more than one plane by pivoting about said spherical member and translational movement by moving with said spherical member along said longitudinal groove.
 9. A drafting mechanism according to claim 7; wherein said mounting means comprises a fixed downwardly inclined plate member having means therein defining a spherical groove, means defining a longitudinal groove extending parallel to said longitudinal axis of said bottom roller within the other end of said guide arm, and a spherical member movably disposed between said spherical and longitudinal grooves, whereby said guide arm may undergo angular movement in more than one plane by pivoting about said spherical member and translational movement by moving with said spherical member along said longitudinal groove. 